Originally Posted by
PTravel
Absolutely not. Unlike Israel, (1) we have a constitutional prohibition against this kind of interrogation, (2) we are not in a state of constant war with hostile powers. Because of the skill of our intelligence services (post-9/11) there has not been a terrorist attack on American soil -- interdiction works here and, rather than sacrifice the Constitutional guarantees of freedom of liberty that have worked for this country for more than 200 years, I'd rather put my faith and trust in the FBI, CIA, NSA and real police agencies, than the Kafka-esque incompetent nightmare that is TSA.
While the TSA can't prosecute you for refusing to answer their questions, they can keep you off the plane. While some have argued that things like the "no fly" list constitute an unconstitutional abrogation of freedom of movement, existing legal doctrine unfortunately seems to support it.
Also, it's not clear that those other three-letter agencies are categorically more competent and less intrusive than the TSA. (Look up the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program, for instance. Or look at the Christmas bomber, who evaded the FBI and might have succeeded if it were easy to get a better bomb through the checkpoint.) The TSA is just more transparent and visible to the public.